“We normally look to prayer to change the external realities of our life, but the Polish pope also knew the power of prayer could change the internal. Like the sinking Peter, who panicked when he saw a storm while walking… — Carrie Gress Copy Share Image
“Motherhood, more than most other types of love, quickly acclimates us to what true love is: an act of the will, not simply a… — Carrie Gress Copy Share Image
“Pope Pius X said. “If we were to lose Mary,” the pope explained, “the world would wholly decay. Virtue would disappear, especially holy purity and virginity, connubial love and fidelity. The mystical river through which God’s graces flow to us would dry up. The brightest star would disappear from heaven, and darkness would take its place.”23 Sadly, we need not… — Carrie Gress Copy Share
“Explaining hell, Lúcia wrote, “Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in a huge fire,… — Carrie Gress Copy Share
“As historian Arnold Toynbee (1889–1975) noted, civilizations rarely die simply from external assault; they are first hollowed out by internal moral decline. “Civilizations,” Toynbee… — Carrie Gress Copy Share Image
“In one of Mary’s apparitions to Bernadette, Our Lady asked her to dig in the dirt. As she dug, a spring trickled through the dirt. The water from the spring proved itself to be miraculous, healing those who bathed in it. Even today, six million visitors come to Lourdes annually. The humble Bernadette and the healing waters of Lourdes confounded… — Carrie Gress Copy Share
“When the storms of temptation encompass you, look up to this star, invoke Mary. When the waves of pride are washing over your ship, look up to this star, invoke Mary. When the burden of sin and the thought of judgment to come terrifies you, think of Mary. If you follow her, you will not go astray. And if you… — Carrie Gress Copy Share
“There are also new stories pouring out of Iraq as Islamic State–controlled territories are losing ground and Iraqis are reclaiming Christian territories. One miraculous story is of seven young college women who hid under beds for eight hours as Islamic State fighters used their room as a hideout during an assault on the city of Kirkuk on October 21, 2016.… — Carrie Gress Copy Share
“The story of Lourdes starts centuries before young Bernadette encountered the beautiful woman at Massabielle. While the area of Massabielle was known as a decrepit place during Bernadette’s time—fit only to feed swine and gather kindling—it hadn’t always been regarded as such. In 778, Charlemagne approached the Muslim stronghold in the Aquitaine region of Southern France. On the edge of… — Carrie Gress Copy Share
“To eliminate her from Scripture is to deform the story—to not tell it correctly—and actually dishonors Jesus. Consider how much the common man honors… — Carrie Gress Copy Share Image
“All grace,” says St. Maximilian Kolbe, “ultimately comes to us from God the Father, through the merits of Jesus Christ, His Son, and is… — Carrie Gress Copy Share Image
“the height of European culture was centered on devotion to Our Lady. In the places where European culture soared, so too did devotion to… — Carrie Gress Copy Share Image
“Salette, France (1846) The next apparition at La Salette happened four years later, in 1846. High up in the French Alps, Mary appeared to… — Carrie Gress Copy Share Image
